User-producer interaction in Web site development: Motives, modes, and misfits

Abstract

Currently, almost every organization has a Web site to inform, communicate with, and/or sell products to customers. Nevertheless, a recent study shows that only62%of the Dutch population can find the information sought for on anyWeb site of the Dutch government (van Deursen & van Dijk, 2008). Even more worrying, only one quarter of the respondents managed to find out whether or not they could object to particular governmental decisions. It turned out that using a search engine like Google provides a higher chance of successfully finding the required information than consulting the relevant governmental Web site. Apparently, users of these Web sites experience great difficulties when navigating them in their search for particular information. They seem to become overwhelmed with the number and variety of features when navigating complexWeb sites (Biswas, 2004; Stump,Athaide,&Joshi, 2002) and then suffer from information overload (Miller, 1956), leading to confusion and erratic search behavior (Trice & Treacy, 1998). These results indicate that the usability of the investigated Web sites is rather low for their intended customers